The Hidden Gallery

Friday Update

2008-05-30T20:32:07Z

I've been watching really good tv. I finished all 5 seasons of HBO's The Wire and the miniseries John Adams.

The Wire is epic television. It is a commentary on what is happening in our world and has left me with so many questions and some despair. What an education I got from watching that show. Season 4 and 1 are tied for my favorite, then season 3.

John Adams is a really great miniseries 7 episodes long with embellishments on one of the Founding Fathers of the US. who was also their 2nd President. The show is so steam punk. Very Cool. And really interesting. I found the world history during that period fascinating. I wish historical television shows would mention that these dramas are very loosely based on historical events. I am watching The Tudors now which is an embellishment of King Henry the 8th's rein. Also loosely based on historical events. I will say that it does make me read more about history to see how accurate shows are and how much they go off track from real history.

I finished reading Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. I enjoyed the book and the fictional account of the Glass Bead Game was something I wondered on. I read somewhere that Hesse imagined his story was set around the 25th century. Whoa. Because I used to play piano, I really appreciated and admired the way Music is described and respected in this book. Anyway, I'm still have to read the last part of the book which consists of poetry and short stories.

Okay, now art pimp:

Click to see whole painting.

Monarch Butterfly Fairy

16 in x 12 in

acrylics on cotton canvas sheet

Hello?

2008-04-17T12:31:45Z

Hello out there?

Art Collaboration with Judy Boardman a.k.a. artsygoddess part VI

2007-11-03T22:45:56Z

It's finished!!! And the colours are so much more brilliant than this terrible and low quality scan.
My favourite thing about this painting is how the mermaid's expression came out so serene...

Thank you to the wonderful and talented Judy Boardman, who is otherwise known as artsygoddess, for her wonderful mermaid drawing! It's been a pleasure and an honour to have worked with you on a beautiful piece of artwork. Thank you Judy!!!

I hope you enjoyed looking at her as much as I enjoyed painting her!

Phew! I can now go read journals without feeling guilty about not posting art!

Art Collaboration with Judy Boardman part V

2007-11-03T20:25:13Z

Okay, I guess I got carried away and forgot to make a scan before it got to this point...These are the very first layers of watercolour paint. Things look flat at this point. The colours, the shapes, everything. I've started shading with cobalt blue and highlighting with some rose dore for the mermaid's skin then washed over everything with yellow ocher. I've also started indicating some of the background elements with more defined shapes. Whatever bleed I was losing my mind over has now been resolved. I've incorporated the bleeding ink into the watery paint. Thank goodness! Judy's art looks even more amazing with colours added!

Working through the email i've neglected over the past couple weeks. I'm down to 56 emails. wo'hoo... back on track soon I ~~think~~ hope.

Part VI and the finished painting next!

Inconsistant

2007-05-11T19:47:53Z

... watercolours or acrylics? oil or acrylics? drawings or paintings? big or miniature? paper or canvas? digital or old skool? I just don't know...some stuff...

Well, I guess I finally finished this abandoned painting. You may remember this from this post. This painting was based on these reference pictures provided by </a></b></a>magical_krystal in fantasy_models . That was a long time ago... I found the unfinished painting lying around in a big pile of other unfinished paintings.

Acrylic on Canvas 12 x 16.

This:

is junk. Done with very little time and consideration (I know, it's obvious) in Photoshop.

I still don't know how to organize my layers best. And am still unfamiliar with the different brushes... If you got any advice, or links or anything that can help me... bring it on... Mucho Gracias!

Art Collaboration

2007-04-19T20:42:19Z

Sorry if I depressed you with my last post. We are now returning to our regular programming.

* * *

Recently, I participated in a teamwork challenge! It was very cool. A group of mermaid artists joined up for artistic collaborations. One person would do a drawing and another person would colour and paint it. The results have been wonderful! It is really cool to see how each artist's style emerges from the art!

Well, I did a drawing and inked some of it. Then I mailed it over to geckoartist who then painted (and what an improvement!) it.

This was my original drawing. bah!

This is my drawing enhanced and beautifully painted by the talented Aubry Chapman!

I think she really improved the face. I like her expression so much more after Aubry painted it. I love it! It's gorgeous! I secretly procrastinated on mailing her my sketch because I was so dissatisfied with it. WOW! I think it's beautiful now!

Go visit Aubry's website!

Then you can go check out the art of the Sea Gods group here!

A Second Go

2007-03-19T20:58:43Z

I thought I would try the theme and composition of this aceo again. But bigger.

5 x 7 watercolours and ink

Been busy because of some good news! I just can't say until I am 100% sure. :)

hiddengallery @ 2007-03-11T21:58:00

2007-03-12T02:09:53Z

"Reunion" 5 x 7
SFA is an acronym for Small Format Art. It is art that measures no longer than 14" in any direction. SFAs include ACEOs and OSWOA.
Enjoy.

hiddengallery @ 2007-03-09T15:48:00

2007-03-09T20:51:34Z

The original is much more vibrant with color in real life. Enjoy this scan anyway!

Enjoy!

Fairy OSWOA

2007-03-09T05:12:05Z

"Hello" Original 4 x 6 Watercolor Painting

ACEO

2007-03-05T03:27:00Z

Original Small Works of Art

2007-03-02T03:38:30Z

Mermaid Pond
4 in x 6 in
watercolour, ink, pencils on 140 lbs. paper

OSWOA is short for original small works of art and are sized at 4 in x 6 in. Visit the official website for more information about this new art movement.

Enjoy.

Love to Hate

2007-02-23T04:35:13Z

It's too bad that the web images can't pick up all the colours. I can only imagine how stunning the aceos created by you guys are in real life! *swoons*

After experimenting with a variety of pens, I've decided to go back to using the old school pens that have nibs. *sigh* None of the other pens worked for me. I don't like how the line is one width without variation or movement. It's boring and I am unable to make it interesting or make it come alive. So, back to simple and affordable dip pens. How much I love to hate them.

Well, hate is a really strong word that I try to reserve for things I really do hate, like nazis, racism, homophobia, etc, etc.

The saying "love to hate" is something many of us can quickly understand and sympathize with but they are rather strong words.

I also have a love/hate relationship with religion. I think in this instance the feelings are penetrating enough to justify using such forceful words.

I love all the inspiration that comes from religion, the incredible art and music, philosophy, poetry, etc, etc. But I absolutely hate all the wars, perversions, fears, genocide, abuse, etc, etc that also comes from it.

Anyway, back to the pens.

I'm using Speedball Drawing Nibs

with FW Acrylic Based Artist Inks.

I love all the fine, delicate lines and how they can be used to create different widths. I don't like the possible ink spillage or mistakes or the scratchiness to the paper. The problem is that I'm shaky. It developed a few years ago. Every single picture I took in Costa Rica is blurry because I am almost always shaky. At one point it got so shaky that my eyes and vision was shaking so much I couldn't read and navigation started becoming risky. Going cross-eyed is also becoming a concern.

Fortunately, it has calmed down quite a bit that I am able to make aceos. I just have to remember to take a lot of breaks!
So that is the compromise I have to make to use this pen.

Oh, and back to the religion thing... I'd like to think it's spirituality that has value. It isn't a compromise. It's a choice. But that's just my opinion.

Troublemakers

Since no one really knows anything about God,

those who think they do are just
troublemakers.

Rabia of Basra (717-801)

Girlfriend, you said it! This is one of my all time favourite poems. Anyway, I was thinking about this stuff because I read this article.

Oh, and I hope you like the aceo!

(Why is the fairy so sad? More on this later.)

hiddengallery @ 2007-02-22T18:16:00

2007-02-22T23:28:33Z

The scanner really does take away the brilliance of colour. Enjoy anyway!

* * *

Have lots to say, but don't know how to say it. I'll post later again.

hiddengallery @ 2007-02-20T22:43:00

2007-02-21T04:06:10Z

More ACEOS

Do you know what it feels like to paint entire walls after painting tiny 2.5 in x 3.5 in cards?

Wonderful.

Finished reading:

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
by Svetlana Alexievich (Author), Keith Gessen (Translator)

Need proof that nuclear energy is not a good idea? Read this book. Prepare to be saddened and horrified. Anger at poor government, petty politics and costly bureaucracy that led to such suffering. It is criminal what happened.

* * *
I don't want to be depressing after that so here is a shot of warm fuzziness (a.k.a. serotonin):

New Venues!

2007-02-03T21:39:22Z

Check out these new websites where you can buy cool, handmade things!

The community art market:
lov.li

and independent art and design:
www.elsewares.com

I've already seen quite a few beautiful things there! Then you can visit www.lov.li/users/thehiddengallery where I have started listing art!

***

In another earnest effort to create more real estate around here, we moved the furniture around again. I had misplaced the Alice painting unfinished for weeks. And I found a whole bunch of unfinished paintings that I had completely forgotten about including this WIP:

Out of sight, out of mind!

Anyway, Larv told me he thought I was doing better because he noticed I was reading again. That's a good sign. And, I've started making my weekly pilgrimage to the library again. More blogging.

Because we moved the furniture around, I haven't really been able to use the easel for big drawings of late. Acrylic paintings are still left undone until I figure out the jenga solution to the problems.

This new arrangement allows me to look out the window from my desk. My neighbours across the street have a huge big screen tv in their living room. I can see everything they are watching when they leave the curtains open. They recently got a Nintendo Wii and I have been watching vicariously as they play. lol

hiddengallery @ 2007-01-31T16:48:00

2007-01-31T22:42:27Z

It has not been a good photoshop day.

But looky here!

Here too: clickey me!

I just finished reading:

I enjoyed this book. I kept hearing about it and I heard they made a movie of it. It is thoughtful and gives a hopeful feeling. It will cheer you up and soothe your soul. I wonder how the movie was?

And I also read:

Now, I've heard that there was some controversy concerning the truth in this book. I didn't know much about it - only that it is recommended by Oprah. So when I saw it in the library on the "Best Bets" shelf, I thought, "well, why not?" I was curious.

What a disappointment. The beginning of the book was interesting because I could relate a little to the main character. But it started getting tired really fast. About half way through the book, I was wondering when the heck it would end. It's so long because of all the repeating phrases and he does
this
a lot.

I mean
a lot.

It was hard to read at first because he uses strange grammar. There are no quotation marks in the whole book so it gets confusing as to who is saying what or when they say it. Not very many commas. And he uses the word "and"
a lot.
I mean
a lot.
So much so that it gets really
annoying.
Annoying.
Really annoying.
And he capitalizes certain words which is fine but confusing. Sometimes I couldn't tell if it a word was capitalized because it was important or because it was a proper noun.

I had to finish it. That's the kind of obsessive person I am. It wasn't easy. The most interesting thing in the book is the character named Leonard. I wanted to know more about Leonard and because I'm am a glutton for punishment and a little masochistic, I had to read:

which is just as
confusing.
Confusing.

Losing a couple hours of your life to crappy books is one thing...so thank goodness i didn't lose any $$ over them. The library rocks!!!

I can't recommend these books and I cannot just tell people not to waste their time with them. These books are books that you either love or hate. It seems a lot of people love them. You'd have to find out for yourself by reading them.

I am looking forward to reading:

which is a parody of "A Million Little Pieces". I'm sure I will appreciate it! This will also help me justify wasting time to read "A Million Little Pieces" just so I can enjoy the parody to its fullest.

A little harsh of a review?
Perhaps.
But it leaves me smiling.
Smiling.
Smiling.
Smiling.
Because I'm being Honest and Real and sharing my Experience and I hope you're laughing too and I bet you find it just as funny as I do and if you don't that's okay and this is the kind of writing Structure that works sometimes and you happen to be e. e. cummings and can write beautiful poetry.

(lmao... I'm sure you're laffing at my journal entry too if you've read his books!)

Still here!

2007-01-25T04:07:42Z

It's that time of the year again when I get all quiet so I have to make an extra effort to post. My bad!

Here is some new art for you!

"I know a talented crab in town who can cut your hair!” proclaimed the crab.

"You don't say!" The mermaid looked pleased.

"The finest claws in the seven seas! Mermaids travel far and wide to have their hair cut by my friend,” the crab said with pride.

Here for your pleasure: CLICK ME!

I hope you enjoy and I will catching up will all of you!